Can man come to Christ on His own free-will?

WHY DIDN'T GOD CREATE THEM?

GOD WAS BEING UNFAIR TO THE “POSSIBLE-CREATURES” THAT HE DID NOT CREATE???

This blog is for the issue about God’s “seeming-unfairness” for saving only His chosen ones.

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1. It Is Not Unfair For God Not To Create Them

            These creatures do not exist. Why? Because God did not chose to create them. God could have, but He did not, simply because it did not please Him to do so. Does it seem to you then that God was being unfair to these poor “possible-creatures”? Does it seem unfair to you that it pleased God to create us and all other existing creatures while depriving these poor “possible-creatures of their existence? Was God being unfair?

            Certainly NOT! Even just the very thought that God was being unfair to these “possible-creatures” would be near nonsense! Why would it be unfair when God did not owe them their existence? God did not have to create them, He has no need of them and He takes no pleasure on creating them. God does everything as He pleases (Psalms115:3), and when He does it, it’s always in accordance to His purposes.

2. Creation Exists Because Of God’s Grace Alone

            All of creation owes its existence on God’s grace alone. We did not exist because we are worthier than those infinite myriads of “possible-creatures” which do not exist. Just like them, God doesn’t have to create us. God isn’t insecure so as to create in order to satisfy His “need-to-be-loved”, for God Himself is the fountain of Love – in fact, God is love(1John4:8)! Creation doesn’t “add” to His infinite glory, for He is already wholly glorious even before all creation (John17:5).  He doesn’t “need” humans to worship Him, because He can cause the stones to do it (Luke19:40). Creation is not even His remedy because of His “loneliness” for God Himself in the glorious Trinitarian fellowship is enough in an absolute sense. Why did we exist then? We exist solely because of God’s grace. It was simply because it pleased Him to have us as part of His purpose – the revelation of His glory.(Rom11:36,Col1:16)

3. Regeneration Is An Act Of Creation

            Transformation of Nature/Regeneration was defined by scripture as an “act of creating”. When God transforms men, He in a sense “creates”. As it is written, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature” (2Co5:17)… Another passage teaches us the same, “And to clothe yourselves with the new man (Transformed Nature), which was created according to the likeness of God in righteousness and true holiness.” (Eph 4:24). These scriptures established the fact that Regeneration - which ensures Salvation – is an act just like that of creation. A person with a regenerated nature has new views, new motives, new principles, new objects and plans of life. He seeks new purposes, and he lives for new ends – He becomes a new creature, a new man.

[Recreation = Regeneration] --> [Salvation]

4. Salvation Is Ensured By Regeneration

Jesus replied to him, "Truly, truly I tell you, unless a person is born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God."(John3:3) Where “See the kingdom of God” = Salvation; and John4:7,Eze36:26; “Born from above” = Transformation of Nature / Regeneration. So we can relay the meaning of this passage this way, “Truly, truly I tell you, unless a person has a regenerated nature, he cannot be saved.” Thus, the scripture teaches us that before salvation, regeneration must take place. And regeneration ensures salvation.


5. It Is Not Unfair For God Not To Save Them

            Only God’s chosen ones obtained salvation and the rest were hardened (Rom11:17). God is “recreating” a people for himself, and those whom he does not recreate perish. Why? Because God did not chose to recreate them. God could have, but He did not, simply because it did not please Him to do so. Does it seem to you then that God was being unfair to these corrupted men? Does it seem unfair to you that it pleased God to recreate us and all other believing saints while depriving those who are perishing eternal life? Was God being unfair?

Certainly NOT! Why would it be unfair when God did not owe them salvation? God did not have to save them, He has no need of them and He takes no pleasure on recreating them. God does everything as He pleases (Psalms115:3), and when He does it, it’s always in accordance to His purposes. Just as it was not unfair for God not to create those “possible-creatures”, it is also not unfair for God not to recreate (regenerate) all corrupted men. God doesn’t have to recreate or transform men’s corrupted natures. So, if God was not indebted to create us from nothing, how much more does HE not owe us recreation when we are corrupted - worse than nothing?(Mark14:21)

God regenerated only His chosen ones (1Pet1:2), not on the basis of their acceptance of the Gospel. Rather, the reason why they accepted the Gospel and believed was because they were already regenerated/transformed (Acts16:14) – and they were transformed because they were predestined to eternal life (Acts113:48)!

6. Men Are Saved Because Of God’s Grace Alone

All of the saints owe their salvation on God’s grace alone. We were not saved because we are worthier than those who are perishing. Just like the perishing, God doesn’t have to save us. But because of God’s grace He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in his presence. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will, so that we would praise his glorious grace that he gave us in the Beloved One. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us, along with all wisdom and understanding, when he made known to us the secret of his will. This was according to his plan that he set forth in Christ. (Eph 1:3-9)

SENDONG: JUDGMENT OR DIVINE GRACE?

SENDONG: JUDGMENT OR DIVINE GRACE?

1. Divine Judgment?

            Typhoon Sendong hit northern Mindanao on December 16, 2011, a bold disaster that struck like a thief. Without notice, without mercy, and without favoritism - it took a thousand lives. Rich and poor, those who slept and those who prayed, delinquents and righteous, the ungodly and the holy, believers and non-believers, all of them were subject to the authority of this disaster. Close friends lost, beloved nephews buried, treasured son drowned, mother-daughter forever separated, and a wife forever missed… Tears were shed like flash-flood, while grudges over this disaster burned like fire. Is Sendong God’s judgment against us?

            Christians were commanded to “laugh with those who laugh, and mourn with those who mourn” (Rom12:15), but sadly, some of us have twisted our Lord’s command and “judged those who mourn” instead. Though the scripture tells us that disasters are not beyond God’s control, that it is under Divine Providence (See bottom **), we should be careful not to sound as though God delights in sending disasters. We should not go beyond what has been revealed to us - “Secret things belong to the Lord, but the things revealed belong to us” (Duet29:29).

            Yes, many a times the bible tells us that God sends calamities as His judgment against the wicked (Jer36:31), but the point is –knowing this, how should we respond then? What would be our proper reaction then? Whether God sent Sendong  as Judgment or not, it is not for us to pry upon! Let us look at what the scriptures had to say:

“About that time some people came up and told him about the Galileans Pilate had killed while they were at worship, mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifices on the altar.

Jesus responded, "Do you think those murdered Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans?

Not at all. Unless you repent, you too will perish.

And those eighteen in Jerusalem the other day, the ones crushed and killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them, do you think they were worse citizens than all other Jerusalemites?

Not at all. Unless you repent, you too will perish."” (Luke13:1-5)

If we are so insistent on saying that Sendong is God’s judgment against the people of Iligan and CDO, and that those people rightly deserved what they earned, are we saying then that they are worse sinners than the rest of all the people of Mindanao? – than the rest of us? Because insisting on those things insensitivity, would consequently mean that we are supposing that they are worse sinners than us because they experienced such and such and that we are also supposing that we are more righteous than them. In that, we would receive a stern correction from Jesus, “Not at All!” He rebukes. It is not our place to gloat over them with a judgmental smirk.

The scripture tells us, “Unless you repent, you too will perish”, this means that a person saved from disaster – who wasn’t included on those who suffered the calamity – is as much a sinner as those who perish! We all also deserved what happened to them, and the reason why it happened to them and not to us, is not for us to interfere. All we know is that God never does anything unrighteous, and everything He decided to do is based in His infinite wisdom and Justice. In that we should trust, as the song says “When you don’t understand His ways, trust His heart”.

2. Divine Grace?

            The most important question a person could ever ask is this: “How can I escape from the wrath to come?” We are a fallen race, this is a fallen world (Rom3:23), we are accursed (Gal3:10), we have greatly dishonored the Most Worthy Maker, and there is certain judgment (Rev20:4). This judgment will be far worse than Sendong, and it would come like thief when everybody is unaware - happy with what they do. This Judgment will not only last for days, unlike Sendong - it would last for eternity. The pain this Judgment inflicts would be far-far-far more superior than the fury of Sendong – because it is the fury of God Himself!...

            While the person is alive, one the worst thing that could happen is if he is unaware of this “wrath to come”. Knowledge of this truth determines his eternal destiny – whether eternal life or eternal torment. Knowledge about the dangers of Sendong could have saved the lives of thousand unsuspecting victims – and in the same way, knowledge about the “wrath to come” could save you from eminent eternal danger. Knowledge about the Judgment to come is an act of Divine grace! God doesn’t have to warn us because Judgment is what we deserved for all our wickedness. But because He is the God of all graces - who doesn’t delight on the death of the wicked (Ez18:23), He continually gives us snap shots of the upcoming wrath, warning us to flee by repenting and turning to Him – for us to be saved.

            You see, when Jesus was on earth, and when the tragedy of Siloam happened (see Luke 13:1-5), He instructed His disciples not to gloat over those people with a judgmental smirk, and instead, He warned them “Unless you repent, you too will perish”. What Jesus is teaching them – even for us today - is that disasters, calamities, and tragedies are constant reminders that death is imminent and it has no favorites. The command to repent was due to the knowledge of certain death, and death due to certain judgment. Disasters awaken us to the fact that this is a fallen-imperfect world and is on the brink of destruction, for God would someday destroy the imperfect to give way for the perfect (1Cor13:10). Calamities are snapshots of the terrors of the upcoming judgment, which would make us realize the grave danger we are all in. Deaths of loved ones are constant reminders that life is a vapor, urging us to consider our eternal destination.

            Hard though as it seems, when we consider the weight of what Jesus taught us, it would make us conclude that somehow, Sendong is an act of Divine grace. Not wanting to sound insensitive, for we suffered with them, but in light of the Judgment to come, we ought to thank God for sending Sendong.

** “I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create disaster, I the LORD do all these things” (Isah45:7)

“Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?” (Amos 3:6)

God loves you for who you are error PART III

The Gospel makes you tremble with fear... but it also makes you tremble with Joy!

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3. It Makes The Gospel Cheap

                      How does it make the Gospel cheap?

                                     You see, people are naturally lovers of self and their money. They are boastful and proud, making a profit out of God, calling out to God only for the benefit they can get out of Him for themselves, not even thinking about how holy God is and the sacredness of truly honoring God(1Tim3:2).

                                                        Again, let us stress out, had it not been for the grace of God continually changing and transforming our hearts, we would still be lovers of ourselves only. It's only because of God's grace we are changed! In our natural state - that is, apart from God's transforming grace - there would only be love for ourselves and totally empty of true love for God. All men are haters of God, because loving the world and its pleasures is hatred toward God!(1John2:15-16) In fact, everything that takes God's place in our hearts is hatred towards God, it's called idolatry!(1John5:21,Ex20:1-3,Rom1:30,1:21,3:9-14)

                              

Now, Let's take this case...

                   Here is a natural man, naturally self-loving and God-ignoring.......

                 Then here you come.................

           

                         And you added..................

                           

                               When we come to men refusing to proclaim the message of sin, judgement and repentance, humility and brokenness will not be fostered. Much worse, it will foster selfishness and idolatry... before announcing to men "Just Believe!", make sure that they are cut to the hearts first... Announce this first with boldness "Repent or Be judged!", "Repent or Perish!"... This is the message of the apostles...

                               "Peter's words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, "brothers, what shall we do? Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins."(Acts2:37-38)

                                 From the old to the new testament, when the prophets and the apostles call people to return to God, it was said in a way that would foster humility and reverence towards God. Their messages were "Selfishness-Breaking!", it calls men to abandon self love and turn to love God instead! It calls men to forsake his mother, father, property and pleasures for the sake of the Ever-Worthy Master... It decreases man and increases God. It is man-degrading and God-exalting

                                Here are few examples of biblical messages that is unlike most modern methods... The message of Jonah: "Jonah 3:1-9",The message of John the baptist: "Luke3:18,Luke 3:7-8,Matt3:10", and the message of Jesus: "Mark 9:43-49,Luke14:25-27"...




                                All their messages were messages of Judgement... and it fostered humility and true repentance to the people they were preaching... Again, it's man-degrading and God-exalting...

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           And anyway, what is true repentance?

                                             Let's quote few examples about what true repentance looks like..


      If I am to summarize the prayer of Daniel for salvation, it would go like this:(Dan9:4-19)
                               "O Lord, You are right by judging us according to your laws. You have been good to us from the beginning but we have sinned and are full of wickedness, we refused to listen to you and your servants. Oh Lord, You have the right and it's only righteous to be angry at us.
                               O our God, hear you servant's prayer! Listen as I plead! For your own sake, smile at us again O Lord, forgive, for your own sake, have mercy on the people who bear your name."




                               Oh the humility in Daniel's prayer. It exalts God and humiliates man. It says again and again, "for your own sake Lord"... not for our sake, but for the honor and glory of God's name...




       The case of the Pharisee Vs. Tax collector (Luke 18:11-13)

      "11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! 12 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’"

                               The prayer of the pharisee is man-exalting, but the tax-collector is man-degrading and God-exalting. It's a humble prayer, it's not about how precious or worthy we are, but it's about how merciful God is.

         The case of the Jailer:

                               Before Paul announced "Believe! And you will be saved!" the Jailer was broken first:

1. He attempted suicide first - he first did not consider His life worth living.

2. He fell down in humility - he forgot the pride of his position.

3. He trembled before God's messengers - thus he trembled at God Himself.

4.  He felt utter helplessness - he asked how to be saved in desperation.

                               The simple but fragrant announcement "Just Believe" is announced only if the unbelieving person is BROKEN! Without brokenness, there won't be repentance, and without repentance, there's no salvation. You can't just go around telling unbelieving persons "God loves you for who you are"... if we do that, it would remove the place for holy trembling, broken repentance, utter self-helplessness and the place for desperate crying our to God for salvation : "lord! Save me! a sinner!"...

                              Many of us use this cliche' as an emotional trick to move the emotions of unconverted men and bring them to church. We use it to somehow remove the natural tendency of natural men to reject us so we say what they wanted to hear. It really fit's what the passage says: "For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own evil desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear." (2Tim4:3)

                               Honestly, this verse is scary. Our gospel must not be primarily about "saving men", it must be about "proclaiming the glory of Christ!" (Rom1:3-5). When we use appeal to the emotions of men, then their "conversion" will only be emotional. And when they don't feel it anymore, they go back to the world - where that rightly belong.

                              True conversion - unlike emotional conversion -  is lasting. We will continually and certainly be changed and be conformed to the image of Christ until our death.(Rom8:29-30,Phil1:6). It is not just emotions, it is regeneration!(Ezek36:26,Deut30:6,Jer32:40,33:8-9)


                              True conversion is not just a mere decision of men, it is God's power fulfilling His promise to His covenant. "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me."(Jer32:30)


                             Our goal is not to convert men. If that is our goal, it would turn us to use human techniques and "rockets" or tricks just to make them come to church. We would even give our motors to them just to make them decide to be converted. Our goal is to proclaim; "Repent and Believe or Perish!" and it's God's job to convert.


                              Let's take the case of Lydia:
                              "The Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying"...(Acts 16:14). As we can see, conversion of the heart comes first before decision. In simple terms, conversion is not a product of decision, rather, decision is a product of conversion. It wasn't merely our decision, but it was His plan all along before the foundation of the world He planned to convert us through the sanctifying work of the Spirit(2Th2:13).
                             It's only by God's grace that we became a Christian. It's only because of God's eternal love for us, not for who we are but because that is His identity, a God of Love! How wide and deep then is that love? How much He lavished us with His love that He calls us His children, as unworthy and undeserving as we are!(1John3:1) This is true love, not that we love God but that He loved us first!(1John4:10)


                              Love Him back beloved! Love Him back! (2Cor16:22)

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TO ACCESS PART I AND PART II, CLICK ON THE IMAGE LINKS

"God-loves-us-for-who-we-are-ERROR!" Part II

"To say that He loves us IN Chirst is to say that had it not been for Christ... God would not love us...."

In PART II, we assumed that you have read PART I... It's a thread, so if you haven't read PART I, read it first before proceed.

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2. It Makes Man the Center - Not God!

               And what's wrong with "Man-Centered" view?
                                      
                                        First let us define what is the "man-centered view"... man centered view says: "God loves me - but He does according to my definition of "God loves me" - that is, I am the 'focus' of God's love... God is for me, just like the way I want... the real purpose and end of all things is me... that is why God must not do things contrary to what I believe He can do... He created me for ME! God can't do as He pleases with ME, and when He wants to do anything in MY life, in MY body - it must be according to MY consent... I am the maker of my destiny, I am the captain of my soul".... Now, what's wrong with "man-centered" view?

                          Now, what's wrong with "man-centered" view?

                                        Let us just answer that not with human wisdom, but with what God has revealed in the scriptures... Colossians 1:16 says: "For through Him, God created everything on heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and can't see - such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was made through Him and FOR Him".(emphasis mine)

                                         Everything.... EVERYTHING!... was purposely created through and FOR Jesus Christ, the Eternal Beloved God the Son. It did not say "for US"... it was said "for HIM"... it did not say, God created us so that "we could be us"... the purpose was FOR CHRIST!... Why? because Jesus is the absolute object and focus of God's Love(Matt3:17,John17:26)... His pleasure is found IN CHRIST, His passion is found IN CHRIST, His Love is IN CHRIST... all the fullness of who God is, is IN CHRIST!(Col1:19)

                                       How shameful would it be to claim what was solely for Christ and declare it to be for us? It's like saying I AM GOD!... that is how deep man's corruption really is!.... it seems to go like this--->"I just don't want to be like God, I WANT TO BE GOD!"... Man really want to dethrone God from the center - as pathetic as the earth wanting to dethrone the sun from the center... That goes way back on the garden of eden(Gen3:4)... the same temptation again and again.... the same devil again and again... and same corrupted human error - that results to cliche' like this - again and again....

                    This cliche' is man-centered? How come?

                                         Instead of using "God loves you for who you are in Christ"... we use "God loves you for who you are".... completely throwing Christ out and replaces it with "you-and-me"... How man-centered could it be? Not even mentioning it's equal crime - It distorts the Character of God - this reason alone could be very serious cause to really inspect our methods and beliefs...

                                         It also takes us away from the real FOCUS of God's love -  "His Glory! Which is embodied and revealed in Jesus Christ"(Isa48:11,Heb1:3)<---(Yes! it's not us... it's Christ). How important would it be to focus on the thing that God focuses upon? If God Himself is so focused on His Glory Revealed in Christ, then how wonderfully-overwhelmingly-beautiful would that object of God's love really be? And how dare we as beings of "inferior beauty" claim to arrest God's focus off of that Glorious Being and turn it to us...(or should I say, "gross corruption" instead of "inferior beauty"?)

Let's take a look at this passage:

                        John 16:26-27.... "Then you will ask IN my name. I'm not saying I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father Himself loves you dearly BECAUSE you love me and believe that I came from God" (emphasis mine)


                       This passage teaches us that the reason why God loved us is because of Christ... Had it not been for Christ, God would not love us!... As John Piper once said: " God is dangerous outside Christ!".... Now for those guys who have not followed Christ and is reading this blog... we say it again, God is DANGEROUS outside Christ!... You are in grave danger from God's upcoming judgment... and without Christ, you will not stand against God's severity... God is not for you, He is against you... you must be reconciled to Him first through Christ! Look at this passage:



"For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."(Romans 5:10-11 ESV)

                      
                       The good news for us is this... though we are God's enemy, we can be reconciled through Christ! Through His death on the cross, He died for the death we deserve - thus we have died(2Cor5:14), and will not taste the second death ever again - IF WE ARE IN CHRIST!


                      We are sheltered on God's love for His One and Only Eternal Beloved Son, Jesus Christ... that means that as long as the Father loves Jesus, we are loved! Now that is a sure foundation! We can be very sure that God will love us no matter what, not for who we are, not because we are that lovable, but because His love for Christ will not fail!


                      We must find our identity IN CHRIST alone... Who you are must be found INSIDE Christ, that is - you have killed your identity outside Christ, and you are clothed by God for who Christ is(Gal2:20). You are forsaking "who-you-are-independently-outside-Christ", constantly desiring and striving to find "who-you-are-in-Christ" - to be Christlike... When you say "God loves me just as I am", then if you mean "just-as-I-am" outside Christ, then the appropriate statement would be - "God hates me "just-as-I-am""... When we seek to find who we are outside of Christ, we will only reap WRATH and FURY..


                     Pero buti na lang... God by His grace... He united us IN Christ before the foundation of the world so that we would be loved with the love the Father has for the Son!... If we are loved by the love God has for His Son, how great is that love then? Amazing Grace indeed!
                     
                    Gipa-"sampa" ra ta niya sa Iyang gugma para sa Iyang bugtong anak! Dili jud na para sa ato originally, pero tungod sa Iyang grasya.. nahimo pud ta nga partaker sa iyang gugma through CHIRST!


                      So Guys, undangon na nato na nga cliche'... ug ato na nang pulihan sa kamatuuran... GOD LOVES US FOR WHO CHRIST IS!

TO ACCESS THE FIRST PART.... CLICK THIS IMAGE LINK... 

Link To Part I and Part II - God loves you for who you are Error!

God-loves-you-for-who-you-are Error! PART I

Guys, let's stop using this cliche! If your are using it.. stop it... if your believing it, don't...


Why should we stop using this famous but erroneous cliche?


1. It distorts the character of God.



                How does it distort the character of God?

                                        -We can only know that when we first learn from God's word who we are and who God is, our true identity and God's identity. God does not look at outward appearance but God looks directly at the heart(Sam 16:7). So, the Bible  says "who-we-are" is not what our mere eyes see, but what our hearts is. There our identity is found...


              Thus,

 Human Heart = Who We Truly Are

                What is our identity as a human?

                                        - God originally created man as good and virtuous, but mankind turned their backs on the Creator - on whom they ought to love - and was led astray by the deceitfulness of sin and wickedness. After the fall, each one of us - as a natural man - have turned to follow our own downward paths(Gen1:31,Ecc7:29). Each of us is completely accountable and responsible. We are not the victims, we are the culprits - the guilty ones!(Rom1:20).


                                  - Now, the human heart is desperately wicked(Jer.17:9), and the Lord observed that everything we thought or imagined is totally and consistently evil(Gen.6:5), we are haters of God(Rom1:30), we are sinners even before birth, sinners even at the womb(Pslms51:5,Isa48:8), we find evil more pleasurable than good(2Th2:12), we are lovers of darkness rather light(John3:19), we deliberately ignore God and His laws(Rom3:10-12). Every human being, including you and me, are guilty. Nobody is innocent and we are called the guilty ones.(Rom3:23)


                     What is God's identity?
                      (This is the aspect of God's character that many hate and deny... do you?)

                                        - God is the God of Justice(Isaiah5:16), He is angry with the wicked everyday(Pslms7:11), He hates people who do evil(Pslms5:5), He is too pure that He can't stand the sight of evil(Hab1:16), He turns away from sinners(Isaiah59:2), He never tolerates sinners in their sin, and He does not forgive the guilty ones(Prov17:15,Plsms5:4).

                                         A. His love is based on HIS justice.
                                                 God is the God of love and mercy but He is also the God of Justice... His love is BASED on His Justice and His Justice is based on His love. His love for justice is PERFECT and His hatred for evil is PERFECT!(Heb1:9a) 

                                                 Because of God's holiness and justice, He must hate that which is wicked, and not only that, he must hate the person who does wickedness!<-- this is what we see in scriptures (Pslsms5:4-5,Pslsms7:11,Isa59:2).

                 Illustration:

If you love life, you must hate murder.

 If you love babies, you must hate abortion.

 If you love righteousness, you must hate evil.

If God loves holiness, then God must not love you for who you are, for you are the opposite of holy, as the scripture says(Rom3.23). 

God's Nature = Perfectly Holy, Holy, Holy!

Man's Nature = Desperately Wicked.(Jer17:9)

(this is man apart from God's common restraining grace)

*we might see society prosper, but the real reason behind is because God is restraining man's corruption... it's all only because of grace. 

                                  In view of God's terrifying holiness, how can HE possibly love and forgive corrupted and depraved people such as us? For if HE would love us "as-we-are" - that is, in our natural state - then HE would be compromising HIS justice and HE Himself will be corrupt. How? Consider this, what would you call a judge that would declare the person who massacred your family, NOT GUILTY? At the least you would call that judge an-evil-stupid and corrupt judge! <-- Is God like this? NO! That certainly is not the character of our Righteous God of Justice. 

                                 How can He possibly love and forgive a "person-in-the-nature-of-his-corruption"? The scripture says: NO HE CANT!(Prov17:15). The Holy,Holy,Holy God can't simply forgive. The punishment for sin must be enforced, there must be death, and blood must be shed! There must be blood and death before there can be forgiveness.(Heb9:22)

                        

                                          B. His justice is based on HIS LOVE.

                                                Of course Yes!, God does love us, and He severely does, you must not be deprived or be starved of that truth. But to say that God loves us "for-who-we-are" - that is, God loves our corrupted nature - is a gross misrepresentation of God's holiness and a clear display of ignorance regarding our true condition apart from God's grace.

                                                Then, God's love for us must have another source of motivation other than "for-who-we-are". His love must have another reason, a reason that is not found on anything in us. 

As the scripture says:   

"Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ, to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure." (Eph1:4-5)

What does this passage teach us? It teaches this: 

                   1. God loves us because loving us brings Him great PLEASURE.

                   2. God loves us because He decided to love us, NOT because of our sinfulness but IN SPITE of our sinfulness.

                   3. The motivation or source of God's love for us is not found in us but is only found in Him!

                 Before the foundation of the world, God loved us IN Christ and He united us IN His Eternal Beloved Son(Eph1:4-11). Christ became our federal representative. As our representative, He became our substitute, and because He is our substitute, this is what God the Father did......... :

* God poured His horrifying wrath on us by pouring it on Christ on the cross.(Isa53:6)

*He enforced the punishment of sin on us - which is death - through the death of Christ.(1John4:10,Isa53:5,Gal2:20)

*We are raised from the dead by raising Christ from the dead.(Eph2:5)

*We are loved by God through the love He has for Christ.

                   There is only one on whom the Father is pleased, there is only one source of His joy and Love. The Only-Eternal-God-The-Son, Jesus Christ. (Matt3:17,John17:26)...... certainly not us!....
                   That is why our identity should be in Christ, not on who we are... let's stop saying: "be who you are sister!" and instead let's say: "Be like Christ sister!", because we are not destined to be conformed on our own image, for we are destined to make Christ's identity to be our identity(Rom8:29-30). Let's take off our identity and cloth it in Christ!

                   So we are loved NOT "for-who-we-are", but for who Christ is! So guys, let's stop using the term "God-loved-you-for-who-you-are", instead let's use this term: "GOD LOVES YOU FOR WHO CHRIST IS"!!!

TO ACCESS PART II, PLEASE CLICK IN THE IMAGE LINK...

Link to Part II

Hala! "Biblical Character" man diay ko!...

Biblical Character man diay ko.... nakita ko sauna ni Apostle John sa iya vision... Iya pa gani gi-record iyang prophecy about sa ako...

Tan-awon nato ang passage hah...


Revelations 7:9-10

"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!""

Kita  ka nako? pangitaa lang... tua ko oh... kadtong gamaaaaaaay kaayo... naka-puti... naay dala nga lukay... lagi.... lisod lang jud ko makit-an kay pareha raman gud ug gipangsuot ang ako mga katapad... haha! pero at least... NAA KO SA BIBLE! haha!.. 

Ug kung natingala ka nganong nahimo kong biblical Character?.. tungod ani nga verse!

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Ephesians 2:8-9 

   *** Nganong biblical character ko? Dili tungod nako! tungod ra sa grasya sa Diyos... Ug dili tungod sa ako nabuhat para walay maka-panghinambog! pagtuo ra jud? walay buhat?.. uu igsoon... pagtuo ra jud! (Kay ang buhat, bunga ra na sa pagtuo.. James 2:17)

Uu! biblical character ko... ikaw, biblical character ka? ug nganong dili man? tuohi nga si Jesus ra maoy makaluwas!(dili ang pagkabuotan, dili ang pagsimba, dili si Maria, dili ang mga santo, dili mga LARAWAN ni Jesus ug Maria, dili ang mga kahoy nga gipangbitay, ug labawng dili ang atong mga binuhatan, maski maayo man kini sa ato panan-aw...), kung mag-basol ka karon ug itugyan imong kinabuhi kang Jesus...

Ugma damlag.. sadihang, ikaw diay nang ako katapad nga naka-puti, nag-syagita pud ug  "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb! " ... grabe ka exciting na nga adlaw bah!...

GodBless mga biblical characters nga DILI MAIHAP sa kadaghan!